By Rory Flanagan (@Rory_Flanagan)

Dandenong Thunder has been blasted off the park by a rampant Oakleigh Cannons in a 6-0 thrashing on Friday night.

A Dean Piemonte hat-trick off the bench after a Goran Zoric double and Rama Tavsancioglu's own goal delivered the surprisingly comfortable win after the clubs met just two rounds ago in a scoreless draw that was dominated by Dandy.

In chilly conditions, 10-man Thunder never settled and looked error-prone for much of the 90 minutes while it was the polar opposite for Oakleigh, which put six past an opposition team for the second time this season.

With no natural striker on the park, Dean Hennessy packed his starting 11 with an abundance of pace and looked to hit Oakleigh on the counter, but basic skill errors in midfield and defence throughout the night prevented the likes of Matt Millar, Kieran Dover and Ryan Burns from storming forward.

Just four minutes in, Frazer Siddall was tested early and produced a stunning block to deny Evan Christodoulou's seemingly goal-bound volley.

The tactically astute Miron Bleiberg tweaked his system and put Goran Zoric on the right, instructing his troops to find the feet of former Dandy hero Veton Korcari. It paid handsome dividends.

Christodoulou's diagonal ball for Zoric sent the winger racing through on goal and he emphatically thumped past Siddall at the near post.

Five minutes later it was two after Alan Mulcahy coughed the ball up to Korcari, allowing the mercurial forward to tee up Zoric for his second.

Dandy was its own worst enemy with a terrible passing completion rate and the halftime whistle couldn't come soon enough.

A sprightly opening to the second stanza was killed off for the visitors when David King was dismissed for a foul on Dusan Bosnjak. To make matters worse, Bosnjak's free kick was then steered into the net by Rama Tavsancioglu who had a horror night against his former club.

Korcari was deserving of a goal but it never came - his thunderous header from a corner was hacked off the line by Kioussis.

Piemonte then entered the fray in place of Korcari, muttering to his assistant coach, "I probably haven't got enough time (to grab a goal)", but how wrong he was.

Fellow substitute Nate Foster played in the diminutive attacker and he coolly slotted home his first.

Next up, Ari Ritz supplied a glorious chipped pass for Piemonte to poke over Siddall for his second.

Finally in stoppage time the ex-Northcote man completed his treble after man-of-the-match Christodoulou's bullet came back off the bar and into his path.

After the match, Oakleigh coach Miron Bleiberg wasn't getting carried away.

"We know they (Dandenong Thunder) are better than 6-0. We played them two weeks ago and barely escaped (with a draw). We learned our lessons last time and changed our style to play to Veton's (Korcari) feet instead of playing into space for (Nate) Foster and it has worked,” Bleiberg said.

Bleiberg especially reserved praise for his central defenders Aron Wilford and Adam Le Cornu.
"When you look at the score you think 'wow 6-0 the strikers must have done well' but it is the centre-backs who got things started and kept a clean sheet and made good decisions,” he added.

Thunder coach Dean Hennessy said his side must learn from the loss and use it as motivation.

"That's going to hurt. You never want to get beat, let alone 6-0. We were handed a footballing lesson tonight and this has got to stick in the minds of the players going forward. We've got a cup (Dockerty Cup) tie on Wednesday to bounce back in so we'll see the character of the group come through hopefully,” Hennessey said.

Thunder's next game is a Dockerty Cup local derby against State 2 high flyer Doveton, which has won every game so far this season.

Oakleigh turns its attention to a visit from Melbourne Knights in NPL Round 8 action on Friday night.

Oakleigh Cannons 6 (Piemonte x3, Zoric x2, Tavsancioglu OG) defeated Dandenong Thunder 0 at Jack Edwards Reserve

Match details to follow...

Picture: Oakleigh captain Evan Christodoulou looks to pass (Image credit: Peter Psarros)